Chubutolithes Ihering, 1922


DESCRIPTION:Nest structure consisting of closely spaced cells, each constructed with small, thin pellets arranged to produce a cell; contains shared walls.

BEHAVIOR(S): Reproduction, calichnia.

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTINGS: Fully continental terrestrial; constructed in soils in the vadose (unsaturated) zone.

POSSIBLE TRACEMAKERS: Wasps (e.g., sphecids [mud-daubers], pompilids [spider wasps]); constructed by a female and provisioned with mostly spiders and caterpillars, and then sealed.

GEOLOGIC RANGE: Eocene-recent

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES: Bown and Ratcliffe, 1988; Genise and Cladera, 2004

REMARKS: Architecture resembles the construction of modern mud dauber wasp nests.

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